The Elegant Corpse

"'A good old-fashioned homicide,' said Mary-Ann. 'Brings a tear to my eye.'"

Okay, frankly, that was incredible. This was more than a romance or a BDSM novel. This was a classic hard-hitting detective story with that distinctive, almost distant feel to the MC that later gets erased. It was a story of the past, of pain and struggles to understand oneself and others. It's a lesson of why we just need to, as a species, get over our damn selves and accept people for who they are, instead of ostracizing and hating people. That behavior leads to identity confusion or self-hatred or dissociative personalities, which only lead to sadness and bad things. (Like people perpetuating the cycle of abuse.)

What I loved:

I loved the ties to Ancient show more Egyptian culture. I loved the remembrances of the early 80's gay Leather culture, which conveyed such an authentic picture to me. I loved the secondary characters, and how they all were painted together to form the larger picture. I did guess relatively early on who the killer was based on probability and logic, but was still loved watching it all go down.

What I loved even more:

I loved the sense of the true Leather scene conveyed here, and the down-to-his-bones Dom that Roger was. And I loved Sean's submission alongside his bratty and pushy attitude.

"That bizarre noise of eating came across the line again. 'This organic peanut butter is great, man.'
'You aren't eating it from he jar, are you?' asked Roger.
Another silence. 'So. When d'you think you'll be home?'"

"'I thought you wanted a spanking, but I was wrong,' said Roger.
'That's a first, I'll bet,' said Sean breathlessly.'"

And the skill and perfect comfort I saw in Roger in his scenes was wonderful.

"The whip writhed through the air like ink spilled in water."
This was absolutely a true work of art, and I loved everything about it (as you can no doubt tell). I highly, highly recommend this. It pulls at the heartstrings, is cause for many smiles, and awes with its work and play scenes. it is mature, it is gruesome, and it is real.

"In the mirror, they were a two-headed monster. Red hair like a flame, blue eyes glazed, dark head bent over him, and green eyes intense. 'That's us,' said Roger."

Beautiful.

Added to my "my all time favorites list." show less

This as a well written murder mystery with a side of light BDSM to keep it interesting. I enjoyed the strong, well balanced Roger who walked the line between being a cop and a strong Dom. The two aren't mutually exclusive but I could see how they over lapped especially in early stages of Roger and Sean;s relationship. I tried hard to like Sean but found him to be a bit of a bumbling pain in the ass. I couldn't but help liking the strong female lead that was Mary Anne. I haven't found many women mixing it up in a BDSM story but she was no shrinking violet. There were enough twists in the story that it took me a while to figure out who the killer was. What was difficult to grasp was why the killer decided to act out after 25 years and not show more before. The guy got away with the crime perfectly. With a good plot, interesting characters and a line of bodies, this mystery is very much worth reading. show less

Actually a 3.5*, but as books getting BDSM even halfway right are so rare I'll round this up.

This is well-written and well-edited, with only the transitions from one scene to the next occasionally being a bit abrupt. I'll not go into any of the plot, because that would give away things, the mystery itself is well-woven into the romance plot which ended with a satisfying HFN. I guessed who the culprit was about 60% in, but the resolution also still was satisfying.

Lovely cover!

Some of the cons were that this book took on too many things, there was the old Leather scene, sickness and death, an MC who is OCD, religious experiences, paranormal experiences, BDSM, sorrow and whatnot else. It came on as too much at times, with not enough space show more given to each. What also exasperated me were the instances where BDSM and whip facts were simply wrong, e.g. a cat is not a singletail, nor will a normal BDSM cat cut through cured leather, an asian penitentiary cane isn't something commonly used in BDSM, applied normally it leaves the recipient for days in a hospital, some of the reactions were askew or over the top as written.

However, on the whole, one has to be thankful for an author writing more emotions into BDSM than what is usual. I also was thankful for that all sex scenes were plotpoints and relevant.

I certainly will check out other books by this author. show less

If you want to get a synopsis of what happens in a book, don't read my reviews. Synopsis writing has to be one of my least favorite occupations.
I will tell you what I liked and didn't like about them though.
First up. A.M.Riley's books all are non-predictable. In other words, whether writing a whodunnit or a contemporary romance you can't predict the ending after just a few pages.
Her characters have flaws and sometimes those flaws are still there at the end of the book.
Roger will always be meticulous and fussy and Sean will probably always swear too much and chew his fingernails.
She doesn't have "and now they ride off in the sunset together" endings, However you do learn enough about her characters and see there are ways they can show more accommodate their differences, which is really what life is all about.
The hot sex is there but not the be all and end all. The characters' motivations and conflicts in personality and actions are what drives the story.
This book had one of the best openings I've read for a while:
"There is a place for everything, Detective Roger Corso believed. And even though, in the chaotic and often grotesquely messy world of Los Angeles homicide, things could be misplaced or badly placed, still there were certain places where certain things most certainly never, and without exception, ever belonged.
A mummified corpse did not belong stretched across his living room couch.", [AM Riley, The Elegant Corpse:]
You do have to think with most of her books. Everything is not cut up and served to you on the plate. You may also be reaching for the dictionary a couple of times when you read. She does not "write down" to her readers, you are lifted to her level which is a high one.
I thoroughly recommending her. show less

First of all, I loved the main characters. They have great interactions and chemistry right away and the sparks between them were flying pretty high everytime they butt heads. I knew it was going to explode when it got to that point and it certainly didn't disappoint.

The mystery wasn't half bad, I mostly suspected the wrong guy until about halfway through. The story itself was pretty well balanced and I enjoyed it. I would have liked to know what exactly happened to his ex-partner though.....

Anyway, the only thing I could not stomach, was the violent aspect of their relationship. I'm fine with spanking, and domineering personalities where one is clearly in control in said relationship but the actual act of flogging, that was a huge part show more of it in this story, it's too far for me. I liked Roger's attitude while he did it and afterwards, he's clearly not a monster but the flogging itself was already too disturbing for me personally to concentrate on well, the good parts of those scenes? This is obviously my own taste and doesn't have anything at all to do with the book or the author who did a wonderful job writing this story. It's clearly A.M Riley's best work to date in my opinion.

There's a torture scene at one point and no raping or anything coming close to that part of the person's body even thought it was clearly a jealous crime. So for that, I'm pretty relieved (I can't stand rape). And the getting over it process was very acknowledgeable as well. However. I just simply don't understand what in hell made them want to continue the violent lifestyle after this, especially since it's the sub who was tortured that pushed the top to resume it. I guess you have to be a part of it to understand it really...

I'm clearly not a fan of BDSM but while I think that naturally people who likes it will most likely enjoy this story, I still think that even people who doesn't like it should be able to read this story and get something from it~ show less

Another book by A.M. Riley that I hardly will forget. Roger Corso is a detective by the book; forget all those detective from television fiction, tough men who do what they have to do even if what they do is slightly (or heavily) not legal. Roger is a freak controlled and perfect detective.

When he arrives home after a one week vacation and finds a mummified corpe in his living room, he calls the CSI and starts to investigate. And everytime he finds a proof he relates to his superiors, even when the proofs lead to one of his best friend, his former Master. Yes cause Roger is now a Master himself, one of the old league, a leatherman with whips and mask; Roger is not the mild mannered queer type that it's so fashion in the twenty century, show more Roger is a big man, muscle and discipline from the '80. And now that his former lover and sub is dead, Roger lives an apparently quite and ordinary life, save going one night every month in a BDSM club managed by an old friend. Like other ordinary men go to play pool or booling, Roger plays with whips and S. Andrew cross.

Sean is the young brother of the victim Roger finds in his living room. Gary, the victim, disappeared more then 20 years before, when Sean was still a little child, and now Sean is alone, since the death of both his parents. He is a troubled guy, living in a precarious way and having no control on his life. He is the classical type who pushes the right bottom on Roger, a man who needs someone to control, someone who needs to be controlled, a mutual exchange of powers. But Sean is very young and Roger fears to be again in a committed relationship. Actually Sean's behaviour is very strange, he is a more than 30 years old man who behaves like a nearly twenty.

Maybe the strenght of this couple is that both of them are so clearly made to be together and the reader knows that they will be together, what he is expecting is the climax, not of their relationship, but of the mystery which plays along with the romance: who is the serial killer? everytime you think to have found the right man, soon after he is the next victim and you need to start again. The mystery is pretty good, I should admit I'm not an expert, but sincerely I discovered the killer only cause all the others were dead.

I think Roger is somewhat a Dom disillusioned; he has seen too much, made too much and now nothing seems to have the same impact on him as before. He is a survivor, he has escaped the AIDS plague, but many around him not, and now he is alone. I don't think he needs someone who turns up his little world, he needs someone who will share it with him: sorry, he has not the age to start again, he is arrived to a point in which he needs stability and comfort. Sean instead is a little like a Peter Pan, someone who is arrived to a point when he needs to grew and instead he seems to always avoid it.

The book is very complex and wonderfully intertwined, full of supporting characters who are themself worthy of an entire story. And it's also a little bit nostalgic, it seems like a last greeting to a dying era. show less

I really like this author, I wish she had some new books coming out.